Curmudgeon's Corner

Where Were Our Senators?

Posted by Al Campbell on Dec. 21, 2009

Economy, Healthcare, Political, Quality of Life, Taxes, Wisconsin

Where were our senators when the health care vote 'goodies' were being handed out?

I have begun the tedious process of going through the Manager's Amendment that has now been approved by the Senate on a vote of 60-40.  This is much akin to the phrase one of my good friends and business associates has spun into a national speaking gig where he talks about eating an elephant.  There simply is no way to eat this elephant in anything approaching a reasonable time...and without significant indigestion.

Among the things in the health care reform bill that leaped out immediately are these:

***Requires that the federal government pay for the entire share of Medicaid expansion for all states until 2017, then phases out the federal match over time.  Provides that the federal government will always pay for the entire Medicaid expansion population in perpetuity for the state of Nebraska.  (Sen. Nelson got that as partial payment for his 'Yes' vote.)

***Expands Medicaid funding for the states of Vermont and Massachusetts.  (Dem senators got that for their votes.)

***Appropriates $100 million for an unnamed hospital somewhere in the United States.  (Any bets on that state being Nevada?)

***Provides protections against Medicare Advantage benefit cuts to residents of New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida.  (Dem senators in those states got that for their votes; and, why, if there were no cuts to Medicare, did that have to be done for those people?  Maybe the politicians haven't been particularly truthful??)

***Includes longshoremen on the list of industries protected from the federal excise tax penalty on high-cost health plans.  (If protection was required for this union, where is the protection for everyone else negatively affected?)

***Replaces the 5 percent excise tax on plastic surgery with a 10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning.  (I suspect that Ms. Pelosi objected to the unfair tax on face-lifts and that Sen. Reid couldn't stand her whining.)

Questions come to mind:

Why didn't those of us in Wisconsin get some givebacks if our Sen. Kohl and our Sen. Feingold are in our corner?  Could it be they rolled over too soon?

Why are all these sweetheart deals necessary if this bill is as good as we've been told it is for lo these many months?

Does the 'buying' of votes qualify as part of 'sausage making'?

Is this the way our government is supposed to conduct our business?

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The Curmudgeon Blog today is titled "Central Planning Alive & Well".